Ascension Health Suffers Cybersecurity Incident, Compromising Clinical Operations at Multiple Facilities

Ascension Health, which runs St. Vincent’s Birmingham and five other facilities in the Birmingham metropolitan area, announced on Wednesday that they may have experienced a cybersecurity incident leading to disruptions in clinical operations. The system detected unusual activity on select technology network systems on Wednesday, May 8, which they believe was caused by a cybersecurity event.

The affected facilities include St. Vincent’s Birmingham, St. Vincent’s Blount, St. Vincent’s Chilton, St. Vincent’s East, St. Vincent’s St. Clair, and St. Vincent’s One Nineteen. Ascension Health has initiated an investigation and activated remediation efforts in response to the incident. Some systems have been interrupted as a result of the ongoing investigation.

Ascension Health is working to determine if any sensitive information has been affected by the situation. If it is determined that sensitive information was compromised, they will notify and provide support to those individuals in accordance with regulatory and legal guidelines.

Companies that work with Ascension Health were advised to temporarily disconnect from their environment until further notice. The health care system has engaged the services of a third-party expert, Mandiant, to assist with the investigation